Cap for milk-bottles and similar receptacles



, A. LOYSTEH. CAP FOR MILK BOTTLES AND SIMILAR RECEPTACLES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.29, 19 15.

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JAMES A. LOYSTER, OF OAZENOVIA, NEW YORK.

CAP FOR MILK-BOTTLES AND SIM ILAR RECEPTACLES.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13,1920.

Application filed December 29,1915. Serial No. 69,218.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. LOYSTER, a

. citizen of the United States of America, and

resident of 'Cazenovia, in the county of Madison, in the State of-New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Caps for Milk-Bottles and Similar Receptacles, of which the following, taken in oonnection with the accompanying drawings,'is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in caps for milk bottles and similar receptacles, and refers more particularly to stoppers of the circular paste-board disk type and to the finger-piece attached thereto for removing the same from the mouth of the bottle.

These disks are usually made of comparatively thin flat cardboard or equivalent comparatively inexpensive material specially treated to render them impervious to moisture and are usually stacked one upon the other in column; to be displaced one by one and forced under pressure into the mouths of successive bottles with sufficient friction to .be self-retaining.

It, therefore, becomes necessary to apply the finger-pieces to the caps in s'uch'manner that all portions thereof will lie within the planes of opposite faces'of the disks when displaced from the stack and applied to the bottle, and at the same time leaving portions thereof accessible for upward deflection from the upper surface of the disk for engagement with the fingers and facilitating the removal of thecap.

I am aware that many devices have been proposed for this purpose, but have discovered that a comparatively thin flexible wire of non-corrodible material properly applied to the cap may be more easily embedded in the surfaces thereof under pressure than metal plates and similar devices, and that when applied to the capsin the manner hereinafter described, they afford a more convenient and reliable means for removing the caps from the bottles than has heretofore been practised.

The main object, therefore, of present main body thereof to be deflected by the finger at an angle to the adjacent surface whereby the loop may be used as a means for withdrawing the cap from the bottle.

Another object is to attach the loop to the cap in such manner that all portions thereof will lie wholly within the marginal edges of said cap.

A further object is to pass the ends of the loop through the cap and to clench them in spaced relation against the inner face thereof while the main body normally lies againstthe outer face. 9 i

A .still further object is to deflect the terminal ends of the loop laterally out of alinement with thenadjacent arms of such loop so as to engage the inner face of the stopper at points some distance to one side of the portions of the'outer face engaged by the adjacent arms of the loop so that when said, arms and terminal ends are pressed into the corresponding faces of the cap, the depressions formed therein will be out of alinement, thereby avoiding any liability of materially weakening the portion of the cap to which the ends of the loop are attached.

Gther objects and uses relating to specific parts of the device will be'brought out in the following description.

In the drawings Figures 1 and 2 are opposite face views of .my improved bottle cap in which the finger piece is shown in its normal position flat against the surface of the cap, the dotted lines in Fig. 1 indicating the position which the finger-piece assumes when adjusted for withdrawing the cap.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through a portion of the cap taken on line 33, Fig. 1, the dotted lines for the finger-- piece indicating the position it assumes when adjusted for withdrawing the cap.

The cap comprises a substantially flat circular disk A of comparatively stiff cardboard or equivalent inexpensive ma-. terial anda finger-piece 1- of fine noncorrodible wire suitably secured in a mane ner hereinafter described to the cap to be used in withdrawing the cap from the bottle when desired.

The disk Ais, of course, impervious to moisture and may be made of any diameter to fit tightly within the-mouth of the bottle intowhich it is usually forced under pressure and retained by frictionr The wire finger-piece 1 is preferably made in the form of a loop of suflicient size' to permit the insertion of the finger therein and has its opposite ends arranged in spaced relation and inserted from the front through the disk A at 6bnear, but preferably within, the marginal edge of said disk and some distance beyond the rear or under opposite faces of the disk, the terminal ends 2- aredeflected to one side (preferably toward each other) of the lines of extension of the overlying arms of the loop and are, therefore, disposed at aniangle to said arms so as to engage portions of the disk atone side of that engaged by the arms to avoid weakening of the disk at the points of atta'chment of the finger-piece, as would be the case if the terminal ends 2 were in alinement with the over-lying arms of the loop.

This angular disposition of the terminal ends of the loop causes them to act as fulcra engaging the solid portions of the disk some distance from the apertures 2 and about which the finger-piece may turn when adjusting it for use in the operation of withdrawing the stopper, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3.

Furthermore, it facilitates the bending over of the portions of the wire against opposite faces of the disk, as for example in passing the'disk between pressure rollers by which the wire of the entire loop or fingerpiece is embedded in the disk wholly within or coincident with the opposite faces of such disk.

This leaves both faces of the disk, including the finger-piece, substantially flat and smooth so that the disks may be stacked one upon the other in close juxtaposition and fed one by one, usually from the bottom, into registration with the mouth of the bottle and plunger (not shown), by which the cap is forced in place.

It will be observed that the terminal ends of the loop at the back of the disk are disposed to one side of (preferably at the inner side) of a straight line between the apertures 2#, as otherwise'if they were in a direct line between said apertures, the main body of the loop would tend to turn about the axes of said terminal ends in the operation of pressing it over and upon the top face of the disk, and it wouldbe more or less liable to tear the fiber of such disk, but this is avoided by disposing said terminal ends at an angle to said line and also at an angle to the corresponding arms of the loop.

What I claim is:

A bottle stopper comprising a circular disk and a wire finger loop lying flatwise against the upper face of the disk and hav ing its ends! passed through spaced apertures in said disk and engaged with the underside of the disk atpoints betweena straight line drawn through the apertures and the closed-end of the loop and out of alinement with portions of the arms which engage the upper face of said loop, the main body of said loop at one side of the disk and the ends thereof at the opposite side of the disk being normally embedded flatwise in the corresponding sides of said disk substantially coincident with the surfaces of said sides whereby the disks may be stacked-one upon the other with their adjacent faces in close contact throughout their area. i

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of December, 1915.

JAMES A. LOYSTER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. T. GREENLAND, T. BURR BUELL. 

